


Always there for you

by Leor_Ataraxia



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everybody Lives, Fix-It, Gen, Hera as a good mom, Or close enough, Prompt: Fuck the Man, The Tower of Nero (Trials of Apollo) Spoilers, Zeus is a piece of shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27307591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leor_Ataraxia/pseuds/Leor_Ataraxia
Summary: In which Hera decides to intervene instead of silently watching the death of Jason.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 60
Collections: Banned Banned Together Bingo 2020, Banned Together Bingo 2020





	Always there for you

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the grammar mistakes, I'm still learning english. 
> 
> This is part of Banned Together Bingo, the prompt is "Fuck the Man"

Hera was on the edge of her seat while watching the massacre that was in front of her.

Granted, it was not a war (not that there wasn’t one going on right now, but who has time to watch all the mortal tragedies? Well, her, but she was not interested), neither a primordial trying to take the throne of her husband. It was even simpler than that, just a battle between two men.

Problem was that one of those men was Jason, _her_ Jason.

Technically, she was also keen on the mortal one, but she didn’t watch that one since he was a babe, she didn’t look at his progress since childhood, give him his first weapon, try to help him to fit in. Perhaps her choices on the matter weren’t the best, (she was still hearing Aphrodite being angry that she dared to meddle in her territory, even if Aphrodite thought Jason was cute) but she had done all of this with the best intentions for the world and for him.

Right now, she was starting to question those priorities.

“ _Is just a demigod, there are hundreds of others, and another hundred will come_ ” she tried to tell herself, in an attempt to get calmer, it wasn’t working though. Her nails were still gripping her armrest with such force she may leave a mark, she was on edge, like she would pounce at any moment and run, and somehow sweat manifested in her forehead, what was odd in a goddess who obviously didn’t need to use that to cool down.

The nerves were really doing a number on her if she allowed herself to stink.

She could see how beside her, Zeus appeared completely calm.

“ _Would you even show some worry? Is your son who is fighting for his life!_ ” Is what she thought, but bite her lips in silence. Technically it had been Jupiter, but since the praetor brought that statue to Camp Half-Blood, the difference was nonexistent; it was for that reason why she was so upset when Jason was technically Juno’s champion.

Part of her wondered if this was because Zeus was accustomed to this; despite how upset it made her, he had so many children across the millennia that she lost count at some point. She on the other hand, only had two champions and no demigod children to call her own, so she never had a reason to care.

Until now.

“You know” she whispered, to make sure the other gods who were watching this (and making bets on top of that, oh she was going to tie Hermes’s snakes into a bow tie around his neck when this was over) didn’t hear them “If you interfered, the same way you did with his sister, I would not oppose”

At that time, she wasn't happy. While she hasn’t sent any monsters against her (Beryl had been wrong on that one, not that she didn’t want to smite that pompous face of hers), and had been as neutral as she could on the matter despite the anger that it caused her; just because Zeus justified himself that she may save them in case the prophecy happens.

While hiding her happiness, she watched how she died, and then Zeus decided to mess with life and death himself and made her a tree. At least her anger had been backed up with Hades.

But now if he did it this time-

“You said it like you weren’t mad when that happened the last time, or how you sided with my brother,” he said with resentment in his voice, like she somehow had cheated on him; that was irony when he did it so constantly, he acted like it was his job.

“Because you messed up with the balance of life, he is not dead”

“But that would mean I mess up with a prophecy, and that is worse, right?” He said smugly, and if she hadn't been so good at concealing her face, she would have been shocked. _Di immortarles_ , she was really hoping he didn’t pay attention to that part; he barely looks out for Jason the same way she did. “And you only are saying this because I forbade you to interfere”

Alas, that was true.

She could have easily blessed him in a way, or snatch him away as soon as he decided he would die instead of his ex-girlfriend. Problem was that after the war, Apollo wasn’t the only one punished, Zeus decided she also interfered too much in the prophecy for his own liking, so in retribution, she couldn’t meddle in Jason’s life again.

If it wasn’t because she knew nobody would have her back, she would have screamed as soon as she heard that. “ _Your method would have gotten us killed!_ ” She wanted to recriminate, being sure that if they had just stayed in Olympus (like he wanted), Gaea would have risen and none of them would have survived.

Nobody would side with her, even when they knew she was on the right, because despite saying they were a council, the reality was that this was more of a tyranny where everybody looked after themselves, and perhaps another one if that person mattered that much to you. None of them were close enough to her to do that, so she was alone on it.

And now, she would pay the price; or worse, Jason would do.

“ _When I started thinking it was worst if it was him?_ ” That had thought had surprised her, not being sure when these feelings had surged. The only children he had were gods, and had never been in such a dire situation where they could have died.

It was at this moment when she noticed he thought of him as her son.

For Rhea, what she was doing?

It was ridiculous, he was the bastard child of her husband for fuck’s sake. She has punished them for as long as he had them, or their slutty mothers; just because he was named after her favorite mortal, saw him grow, and had become an amazing hero on his own didn’t mean she should feel-

Then Jason got shot by an arrow in his thigh, and without thinking, she screamed _“NO!”_

That immediately made her the center of attention. The gods, who had been watching this with varying degrees of amusement (from Hermes chanting for Piper to kill Medea, to Hephaestus who was focused on whatever project he had at hand) were now all astonished, looking at her.

It was obvious that her reaction was for her s- _for Jason_ ; he was the one who just got injured, and he was her champion. Granted, it was still surprising to hear that from her, since all of them knew she would normally be in the first row for a demigod of her husband being killed.

It was different though, _he_ was different.

She could not just watch this time.

“Hera” Zeus spoke in a serious tone, like he somehow could read her mind even before she formulated the thought. Perhaps he knows her better than she gives him credit. He placed a hand on her wrist, like he could control her that way.

And that was enough to make up her mind.

“No,” she says, yanking her arm away, and getting up from her seat.

“HERA-”

She did not listen, she disappeared in the form of a golden cloud, teleporting to were her champion was fighting for his life.

* * *

None of them notice her divine presence.

Granted, she appeared in an invisible form, if only as a way to deter Zeus from snatching her away before she interfered, but it should have been some difference in the air, right? She was in the presence of mortals, after all-

She stopped thinking about that when she focused on Jason.

Somehow, he had gotten more arrows, this time in his arms; he was visibly tired, and even then, he invoked the storm that was raging upon them. Hera just hoped Zeus would not make it worse just to stop her, but at least she was assured he wouldn’t do anything that would give an advantage to their enemy; he still disliked people who tried to take his power after all.

As far as they knew, these mortal-immortal hybrids could be hurt by a godly hand, not killed thought. It didn’t matter, it wasn’t her job to kill him, she just needed to incapacitate him well enough that they could escape; she could just make sure Jason got out, but she knew he wouldn’t accept that.

“ _He has become a better man than any of my children, or his father for that matter_ ” she smiled, swell with pride; not that it was the time for that.

Moving to be behind him, she put her hands in the back of his, and started using her powers to heal him. She was not the god of medicine, but she could still have that effect on demigods if she wanted, especially at this distance. Soon, Jason had a golden aura around him, the arrows disintegrated and his injuries mended, and everybody stopped in awe as he stood as the hero he has always destined to be.

Perhaps she hasn’t contributed to his childhood as much as she could, but it still makes her feel joy knowing how everybody watched him.

The stupid of Nero and his crazy horse had stopped moving out of sheer surprise, something that Jason took advantage of and hit him in the face with the back of his sword. Thanks to the powers Hera gave him, Nero ended up a few feet away from the impact.

That is the moment Grace noticed what was going on with him, the slightly godly powers that he suddenly manifested. He looked at his hands in shock.

“What-” he murmured for himself.

“Take advantage of this, take them out of here, use the wind for it” Hera whispered in his ear, hoping he will know it was her, and that he could continue doing this instead of being just a fluke. He looked back at her for a moment; he could not see her since she was invisible, and yet somehow, she felt how their eyes connected.

It was not for long; he was accustomed to gods and crazy turns of events. He waved his hands “Go, let’s get out of here!” Soon enough, Tempest was leading another venti, who soon caught the rest of their group, leaving the pandai to deal with the storm and an Emperor screaming obscenities in Latin.

How vulgar, she never liked him.

* * *

Jason couldn’t believe it. Not when the glow appeared on his skin, when somehow he got stronger than he had ever felt, or when they left the rain behind and landed on a beach.

As soon as everybody’s feet were on the sand, she manifested.

“Hera,” he said, looking at her white pristine dress and peacock decoration.

Despite the situation, she smiled at him “That’s right”

“Wait, you…helped us?” Piper said, trying to stay upright; the fight had been tough on her and she took some hits in the head during her fight with Medea. Even with her jaw askew and split upper lip, she looked ready for anything that could happen, except perhaps, help from his stepmother “I thought you didn’t care”

“Excuse me?” She seemed offended at that.

“What she is trying to say” he walked in front of his friend, hoping to avoid Piper getting smitten; thought as a child of Hera’s husband, he wasn’t sure if his intervention would be better “Is that you had stayed neutral before, as a way to avoid to be too involved in demigod matter and get in trouble”

Somehow, she half-smiled at him; despite the twinkle in her eyes, it looked pained “Before, I and Juno were separated, or enough that Juno’s feelings for you weren’t my own; but that is not the case anymore”

Her feelings for him? What does that mean? He was going to ask, but she continued.

“Sadly, I may have done something worse than meddle with life and death”

“You certainly did” a voice boomed like thunder, making all of them, except the goddess, flinch in fear.

Hera’s smile disappeared, while her husband stood behind her, looking even less pleasant than the last time Jason saw him. His eyes glowed with fury, and the fact that he had his lightning bolt in hand did not seem reassuring.

Jason did not understand “Wait, what did she do?”

“You were supposed to die tonight” The coldness in his voice sent a shiver on his voice son, at whom he looked almost with boredom “The Sybil was clear _“If you seek out the emperor, one of you will die”,_ but she meddled on the matter”

“You wanted Jason to die?” Apollo asked before he had the chance to watch his mouth. For how Zeus glared at him, was that at times then the ex-god remembered that he was not on the best terms with his father.

“I wanted the rules to be respected, that’s why I’m king, to make sure they are listened” He now went to see to his wife, the displeasure becoming more apparent in his features “And you had the audacity to disobey me in front of the court, in front of _me_ ”

Somehow that appeared to be more of the problem than messing with a prophecy.

“It was worth it,” She said it with such coldness and resentment Jason needed all his strength to not gasp audibly.

It wasn’t the right answer for the king of the gods, whose nostrils flared like if he was a bull, and for a second Grace thought he saw smoke coming out of them. He took her wrist with such force Jason feared he may bruise her on the spot if that was possible for gods.

It was only known that he was catching on the fact that this was happening because of him, since she did this to save him “Wait a second-”

Hera looked at him, and Jason stopped at the look of love she had for him, a maternal one he hasn’t received in…who knows how long, because he doesn’t remember it. There is a pain in her face, and yet she smiles at him as brightly as she can “Goodbye, my son”

And without the chance to say anything back, they disappear in a golden cloud, to whatever they are going.

“Ouch,” Apollo says, making a face “I almost feel good for the punishment I got”

“What do you mean by that?” Meg asks, confused.

“I got here because I said one prophecy to a scoundrel, and that landed me here as a mortal. I can only imagine what would be disobedience in front of his court, though he probably will use the excuse that she messed directly with a prophecy. Point is, is not going to be pretty”

Jason could only look at where they were, shocked, and confused. Hera was going to be punished badly, and she knew it, and still risked it all. To save him, of all people.

“Jason?” The named one flinched, looking to his side to Piper, who put a hand on his bicep “Are you alright?”

His godly glow disappeared, he didn’t feel that raw energy anymore, his injuries were gone, not even leaving a scar where full arrows pierced his limbs. His mind whoever, was stuck in some special words _“Goodbye, my son”_

What…what was his relationship with Juno before he got kidnapped?

He wouldn’t know.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this some days ago, I actually thought of Hera being like a mother for Jason before the ToN book happened, and I was really pleased with her characterization in that book, at least someone is grieving him (beside Nico of course). Also, the fact that Hera is sadder over this than Piper or Percy feels ironic to me.  
> Anyways, I'm always for sticking it out to Zeus, fucking prick.  
> Happy Halloween!


End file.
